ES Search found 5 matches:"+perovskite", most recently in a link from a post re solar energy use:
"A materials science breakthrough involving solar cells made from a material called perovskite will be introduced next year and will drive down solar cell costs and exponentially increase efficiency".

Per that Wiki thingee:
Occurrence
Found in the Earth’s mantle, perovskite’s occurrence at Khibina Massif is restricted to the under-saturated ultramafic rocks and foidolites, due to the instability in a paragenesis with feldspar. Perovskite occurs as small anhedral to subhedral crystals filling interstices between the rock-forming silicates.

Perovskite is found in contact carbonate skarns at Magnet Cove, Arkansas, in altered blocks of limestone ejected from Mount Vesuvius, in chlorite and talc schist in the Urals and Switzerland, and as an accessory mineral in alkaline and mafic igneous rocks, nepheline syenite, melilitite, kimberlites and rare carbonatites. Perovskite is a common mineral in the Ca-Al-rich inclusions found in some chondritic meteorites.

A rare earth-bearing variety, knopite, (Ca,Ce,Na)(Ti,Fe)O3) is found in alkali intrusive rocks in the Kola Peninsula and near Alnö, Sweden. A niobium-bearing variety, dysanalyte, occurs in carbonatite near Schelingen, Kaiserstuhl, Germany.

a group of nanotechnology scientists have created copper “ribbons” that are thin and flexible enough to be embedded in a woven fabric, and capable of harvesting and storing solar energy simultaneously. The innovation could prove important for making wearable tech self-powering—as long as it’s sunny out, anyway—and means a greater possibility that one day you’ll be able to buy a solar-powered jacket that can charge your phone.

... or a shell/body/covering like a velomobile papered with the stuff.

Scientists from the University of Oulu have discovered a new material that is capable of turning different types of energy into electricity. The material is a type of perovskite crystal, a family of crystals already known for being able to turn certain types of energy into electricity.

The new material, known as KBNNO (based on its chemical formula), can convert heat, visible light, and changes in pressure into electricity. Like other perovskite crystals, KBNNO is ferroelectric. The material is organized into electric dipoles, tiny compass-like needles, and when a physical change happens the dipoles misalign, creating a current.

The Financial Express is an Indian English-language business newspaper. It is published by the Indian Express group since 2015. The FE specialises in India and international business and financial news.

India’s oldest financial daily, The Financial Express, is today one of the leading newspapers in the country.

Soon, printing solar cells will be at the cost of a newspaper:
(This alternative solar technology could lead to low-cost, printable solar panels capable of turning nearly any surface into a power generator, researchers said.)http://www.financialexpress.com/lifesty ... er/556919/

Includes:

“Economies of scale have greatly reduced the cost of silicon manufacturing. Perovskite solar cells can enable us to use techniques already established in the printing industry to produce solar cells at very low cost,” said Ted Sargent from University of Toronto in Canada.

“Potentially, perovskites and silicon cells can be married to improve efficiency further, but only with advances in low-temperature processes,” said Sargent. Today, virtually all commercial solar cells are made from thin slices of crystalline silicon which must be processed to a very high purity.

... and includes a YT vid:

It is an energy-intensive process, requiring temperatures higher than 1,000 degrees Celsius and large amounts of hazardous solvents. In contrast, perovskite solar cells depend on a layer of tiny crystals – each about 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair – made of low-cost, light-sensitive materials.

... and ends:

However, until now, there has been a catch – in order to generate electricity, electrons excited by solar energy must be extracted from the crystals so they can flow through a circuit. That extraction happens in a special layer called the electron selective layer (ESL). The difficulty of manufacturing a good ESL has been one of the key challenges holding back the development of perovskite solar cell devices.

“The most effective materials for making ESLs start as a powder and have to be baked at high temperatures, above 500 degrees Celsius,” said Tan. “You can not put that on top of a sheet of flexible plastic or on a fully fabricated silicon cell – it will just melt,” Tan added.

Tan and his colleagues developed a new chemical reaction than enables them to grow an ESL made of nanoparticles in solution, directly on top of the electrode. While heat is still required, the process always stays below 150 degrees Celsius, much lower than the melting point of many plastics.

The new nanoparticles are coated with a layer of chlorine atoms, which helps them bind to the perovskite layer on top – this strong binding allows for efficient extraction of electrons. Researchers reported the efficiency of solar cells made using the new method at 20.1 per cent. The study was published in the journal Science.

The Ministry announced the development of a "new technology that will enable the construction of Perovskite solar cells that are ten times larger in surface area without losing efficiency."

The study was carried out by a team headed by Professor Lee Gwang-hee (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) with support from the Ministry's Basic Research Support Program (Individual Researcher), New Industry Creation Project and Climate Change Response Technology Project; the results of the study were published in the April 10 issue of Advanced Materials, a leading global journal in material science.

Perovskite solar cells have been widely studied around the world for being easy to manufacture yet having high efficiency rate for generating electricity from photovoltaic energy. However, while larger panels are needed to generate more electricity, Perovskite solar cells were hobbled by their tendency to lose efficiency the wider the panels became. The research team succeeded in increasing the size of a small 1㎠ Perovskite solar cell ten-fold while preventing any significant loss in efficiency.

The team used an amphiphilic material to address the decrease in solar cell efficiency due to the creation of pin-hole defects in manufacturing Perovskite film.

The study succeeded in presenting a new technology for increasing the surface area of Perovskite film. A more than twofold increase in solar cell efficiency may allow these cells to be used for the external surface and windows of buildings, and enable the commercialization of Perovskite solar cells for high-voltage electricity generation.

Professor Lee stated that "the study developed the world's first high-efficiency, large-surface Perovskite solar cell. A low-cost solution process enables the production of a large-surface cell, which could be used for semi-transparent building glass photovoltaic panels and other building-integrated solar power generators. The results of the study may potentially accelerate the commercial adoption of Perovskite solar cells."

Perovskite films for "the external surface and windows of buildings"? Heck. I wanna paper the shell of the velomobile.